


Settling in

by DieAstra



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s02e25 Resolutions, Fluff, Humor, Memories, New Earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DieAstra/pseuds/DieAstra
Summary: Chapter 1: On their first evening at New Earth, they unpack their personal belongings. Chakotay finds a long forgotten thing.Chapter 2: Kathryn asks about the Maquis vest and Chakotay tells her a few stories from the past.
Relationships: Chakotay & Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway
Comments: 17
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The End of the Interlude](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11938329) by [jamelia116](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamelia116/pseuds/jamelia116). 



> Granted, I haven't read all "Resolutions" stories yet, but when watching I noticed a detail I had not seen mentioned anywhere yet, so this story was born. It also was inspired by the wonderful story "The End of the Interlude" by jamelia116 who showed them packing up all their things in the end. I wanted to show the beginning.

It had taken them all day long to erect their shelter and set up the equipment. There was still some work left for tomorrow but at least they had a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in for tonight.

After this day’s hard work they’d sat down for a well deserved break. With replicated food for now, but Chakotay looked forward to discover everything this planet had to offer. Maybe he could do some old fashioned cooking, with fresh vegetables.

A nearby stream would provide plenty of water.

All in all, things could be more dire.

Now it was time to unpack the remainder of the cargo containers. They had left those with their personal items last. Up until now they could pretend that all the preparations were just for a longer mission. But unpacking their private things and properly settling in meant they truly had accepted this as their home. In an unspoken agreement, they had hesitated to take this last step.

Until it could be no longer avoided.

Chakotay had only sent up one request, for his medicine wheel and bundle. B’Elanna had promised to personally look for them and make sure they reached him. When he now opened the container that was marked “Chakotay”, he found that both items laid right on top, carefully wrapped so nothing would happen to them.

He would probably need to teach the captain – no, Kathryn – how to use the medicine wheel. You never knew what could happen around here.

Digging further, he found several simple shirts in bright colors, made from organic material. 

And right down at the bottom laid something made from soft leather. His old Maquis vest. It was the last thing he’d expected to see here. He’d buried it deep in his closet and hadn’t looked at it for two years. Slowly he took it out, studying it closely. His other life seemed so far away now.

He could see some dark spots that he never had been able to clean away properly. Lost in thoughts he remembered all the blood and sweat and tears this vest had seen during his years as a Maquis. 

In it he had been wounded, captured, freed. 

He had killed and saw his friends being killed.

He had mourned and he had fought on.

He had been a different man back then. 

He was strictly against killing animals just for their hide. Yet he had bought this vest many years ago on an outpost. It already had been old then and in a soft minute he’d thought it might be something his father would appreciate. Maybe one day he would go home and clear the air between them. Wouldn’t be good to arrive with empty hands then.

But he never did find the courage, and then it was too late. 

His grief turned into rage, and so he wore the vest as well as the tattoo to always honor and remember his father.

Chakotay had been so lost in his memories that he didn’t pay any attention to Kathryn. It took him a while to come back to the here and now and realize that she’d started to grumble while unpacking her container.

He walked over to where she sat on the ground, draping various dresses around her. Exasperated she looked up at him.

“Who did they leave in charge of replicating these, Tom Paris?”

At first he didn’t understand what she meant. The dresses looked beautiful. Surely she would look beautiful in them as well.

She waved a pair of flimsy shoes in the same color like one of the dresses at him.

“Traipsing around the woods in these shoes? Really?”

Finally it hit him.

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh!”

He sat down next to her.

“You wore something similar in Sandrine’s once,” he offered lamely. “Maybe he thought…”

“Well, whatever he thought, he should have thought again. This dress doesn’t even have pockets!”

“We don’t even know if it really was Tom.”

She sighed, defeated.

“No, we don’t.”

Together they dug further into her container and finally unearthed some pants and sturdier boots as well.

Kathryn’s mood improved visibly. 

She jumped up, grabbed one of the dresses, and disappeared behind the wall to what they had designated her bedroom. Chakotay got up from the floor as well. It didn’t take long for her to come back out, now wearing the green dress.

His breath caught in his throat. She _did_ look beautiful. She’d let her hair down as well. It made her look much younger.

For a moment he was lost for words, just staring at her.

She showed a self-conscious smile.

“Whoever did this, at least they got my size right.”

Then she got aware of the vest he was still clutching in his hands. Her eyebrows rose up. She’d recognized it immediately.

“Your Maquis vest? What’s that doing here?”

“That’s… a long story. Maybe one day I’ll tell you.”

She looked around.

“Well, it looks like we have all the time in the world.”

The way she said it, it sounded like a threat.

To him, it sounded like a promise.


	2. Stories from the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On New Earth, Kathryn asks Chakotay about his Maquis vest and he tells a few stories from the past.

It seemed such a long time ago that Chakotay had let Kathryn know of his feelings for her through a badly disguised story and they had shared their first tentative kiss. Yet it only had been yesterday.

The plain shelter suddenly felt wrong, constricting. It still reminded them too much of their Starfleet past. If they wanted to see where their relationship might be going, a change of scenery was in order. Chakotay was delighted when Kathryn enthusiastically agreed to an evening at the river.

He led her to a little sand beach that had formed in a bend. They managed to get a small fire going and then settled down to watch the sunset. The air was warm, the sound of the waves calming, it was as perfect an evening as it could be.

Kathryn’s back was leaning on his chest. His face was on the base of her neck, breathing in her scent. Once in a while she would turn, her lips searching for his, her fingers stroking his hair, face, and chest.

She seemed particularly fond of playing with the soft leather ornaments of his vest. His old Maquis vest, he realized belatedly. Probably not the best choice to wear if they wanted to leave their old selves behind and start anew.

But it was too late now to do anything about it.

“I love the leather smell,” Kathryn said quietly. “Do you know what it is made of?”

“Blood, sweat and tears,” Chakotay replied absently before he was able to stop himself, his thoughts still far away in his past. Inwardly he groaned when he felt Kathryn stiffen. Hopefully she would drop the subject. Hopefully…

But Kathryn sat up more straight and turned towards him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly.

He turned his gaze away. “Not really.”

The past was the past. What good was it to talk about it? He’d rather talk about the future. Their future.

But Kathryn wouldn’t be Kathryn if she let go that easily.

“You promised.”

“What?”

“On our first evening here. You promised that one day you would tell me the story of your vest.”

Chakotay sighed. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t know where to start. Surely she didn’t expect a detailed mission report from him. Helplessly he looked at Kathryn, trying to convey with his eyes that even though he would love to let her deeper into his life, it was not a subject that easily led to storytelling.

Kathryn seemed to grasp his struggle. She snuggled closer again and let her eyes roam over his chest. Finally she tapped her finger at an area that seemed darker than the rest.

“What’s this?”

He didn’t even need to look down to know what she was pointing at. He knew every inch of this vest and what all the spots he hadn’t been able to clean away meant to him.

“That would be the blood,” he replied. He meant to say it lightly but his voice caught in his throat, barely getting the words out. Kathryn’s hand found his and grasped it tightly. Chakotay was glad for the connection to the present while his thoughts whirled in the past.

“Yours, or…” she gently pressured.

“Both, actually.”

He felt Kathryn shudder.

“This was a bad idea. Sorry I asked.”

“No, it’s okay.”

If he wanted her to love him, all of him, then she needed to know. Of course she already knew from the reports before going on the mission to catch him that he had killed. Had been forced to kill. Only in self defense, but killing was killing. He wasn’t proud of it but it had been the only option at the time.

Kathryn remained silent, patiently waiting for him to collect his thoughts and go on.

“They caught me once. They tortured me. If it hadn’t been for Ayala I wouldn’t be here now.”

Now it seemed to be Kathryn who needed to collect her thoughts. It took a long time before she spoke again.

“So when the Kazon tortured you…”

“… it wasn’t the first time for me, no.”

Kathryn grasped his hand even tighter. It hurt but it was a pain that meant he still was alive.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get you out of there sooner.”

Chakotay looked her fully into the eyes.

“It was not your fault! I hadn’t expected for you to come after me at all. But I’m glad you did.”

Kathryn smiled. 

“We have to thank B’Elanna for this.”

Ayala and B’Elanna. His two close friends.

Kathryn, on a search to change the subject, pointed at an area of the collar where the embroidery of the vest didn’t seem as neat and clean as at the rest.

“What’s this?”

Chakotay made a face. 

“You don’t want to know about this. Trust me.”

“Try me?”

“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Her curiosity was piqued now, he could see. He sighed, most dramatically, but he had sworn to never lie to her and he wouldn’t start now either.

“That was, um, Seska,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“Seska. One evening she grabbed me rather forcefully, and that’s when it happened. I tried to repair it but I’m not good with needle and thread.”

The vest was so old and had so much history that repairing it the old fashioned way had seemed like a good idea at the time. But holding a thin needle in his big hands proved to be a rather futile task so he soon had given up.

“You were right. I didn’t need to hear this one.”

Chakotay could feel his mouth turn into a smile. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. It felt very cleansing, looking at the past for one last time before he was able to move on.

Maybe one day she would tell him about Mark.

He now started to look for things himself. There was a green edge at the bottom of the vest. He pointed towards it, waiting for Kathryn to follow with her gaze before he continued.

“Those are grass stains. Once we lay in the grass all day long, hiding from the Cardassians. We had been able to mask our bio-signs but even the slightest movement would mean they found us. Only when it was dark we got away.”

That was a day Chakotay never would forget as long as he lived. It seemed to go on forever. His limbs felt stiff from hours of inactivity. The sun was blazing down on them. Their water was long gone. His tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth. He had trouble moving it to speak, trying to calm his men lying on both of his sides. Some of them wanted to make a break, run towards the woods quickly but he knew they wouldn’t make it. Fiercely talking them out of it was all he could do and he was proud to say that he did not lose a single man that day. He got them all back to the ship safely.

He knew exactly how Kathryn felt about her crew. He knew she must be going crazy with worry, and also thinking she failed them, not being able to continue their journey with them. He would do everything in his power to care for her, to help her accept this new life they would lead here together.

The last light was fading away. The sun had set. They put out the fire and got up. Arm in arm they walked back to the shelter. Suddenly he felt Kathryn’s hand on his right side.

“What’s this?” she asked surprised.

His hand followed hers and then it was his turn to be surprised. One of the seams at the side had partly split open. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed that before.

“Sorry, I have no story about this one. It must have happened when Tom pulled me up shortly before the staircase fell down. He saved my life that day. Now I will never be able to re-pay him.”

“I’m sure he knows how grateful you are.”

Kathryn patted his side then linked her arm with his again and continued walking. Chakotay already could spot the white walls of their shelter through the trees.

Not long now and they would be home.

With Kathryn at his side, this truly could become home for him.

The End

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**Author's Note:**

> I can't be the only one noticing he wore his Maquis vest in this episode? Has there ever been talk about this?  
> I also always wondered where the clothes came from, if they already had them at the ship or if they were made especially for their stay.


End file.
